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DR MORRISON AND HIS CHINESE* TEACHERS. 



THE LIFE 



ROBERT MORRISON, 

THE FIRST PROTESTANT MISSIONARY TO CHINA. 



By WM. A. ALCOTT, M. D. 



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6cp 



PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS. 

SCNDAT-BCHOOL ITNION, 200 MULBEKBT-STBEBT. 

1856. 



*v\ 



^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern 
District of New-York. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. rAGE 

I. HIS BIRTH AND EARLY EDUCATION 7 

II. HIS EARLY STUDIES AND ENGAGEMENTS 16 

III. — HIS HABITS AND STATE OF HEALTH 2G 

IV. — HE PREPARES TO BE A MEN'ISTER 31 

V. HE DETERMINES TO BE A MISSIONARY 39 

VI. — HIS MISSIONARY STUDIES IN LONDON 44 

VII. — HE SAILS FOR CHINA 53 

VIII. — THE VOYAGE TO CANTON 59 

IX. — ARRIVAL AT CANTON 6S 

X. HE RESIDES AT MACAO 7G 

XI. DOMESTIC AFFLICTIONS 82 

XII. HIS LABORS AS A MISSIONARY ... 83 

Xin. — HIS EDUCATIONAL LABORS 94 

XIV. — HIS GREAT WORK AS A PIONEER 98 

XV. — OTHER COLLATERAL LABORS 110 

XVI. DR. MORRISON'S VISIT TO ENGLAND 116 

XVII. — HIS SICKNESS AND DEATH 126 



illttstratijans. 



DR. MORRISON AND HIS CHINESE TEACHERS 15 

DR. MORRISON'S TOMB AT MACAO... 130 



ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTER I. 

HIS BIRTH AND EARLY EDUCATION. 

Robert Morrison was born January 5, 
1782, at Morpeth, Northumberland Co., 
England. His father was a mechanic — 
a maker of lasts and boot-trees. It was 
a trade, however, which he appears to 
have taken up of himself, as he was at 
first a farmer. He was a most excellent 
man, and made it his great object to 
train up his children, of whom he had 
eight, according to the injunction of the 
apostle, a in the nurture and admonition 
of the Lord." 



8 ROBERT MORRISON. 

When Robert was about three years 
old his father removed to Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne, where, for aught which ap- 
pears, he spent the remainder of his 
days. Here it was that Robert received 
his first impressions and his early edu- 
cation. 

It must have been about this period 
of his life that he was first introduced 
into a Sunday school as a scholar. It 
has long been regretted that his memoir, 
published by his wife after his death, 
contains no account of the circumstances 
of that important event. 

The following statement of them has 
been extensively published, both in En- 
gland and America, and I am not aware 
that its correctness has ever been called 
in question. It purports to be based 
on the authority of the superintendent of 
the school which Morrison first attended. 



HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 9 

u The superintendent saw a young 
lady come into the school ; he went to 
her, and asked if she would like to be 
a teacher. 

" ' If you have a class for me/ she 
replied. 

6 " I have none ; but how would you 
like to go out into the street and get 
one?' 

" At first she hesitated, but finally 
consented, went out, and found a com- 
pany of ragged, dirty boys, and per- 
suaded them to come and form a class. 
The superintendent told the boys that 
if they would come to his home he 
would give them each a suit of clothes. 

" Next Sabbath she found tivo there, 
but young Morrison was missing. She 
sought him, found the truant, and brought 
him back with difficulty. The next Sab- 
bath it was just so again, and so the 



10 ROBERT MORRISON. 

third Sabbath. After the fourth Sab- 
bath, at the monthly meeting, she re- 
ported that she could no longer feel 
responsible for him. The superintend- 
ent, however, exhorted her once more 
to try. to save him. At last she replied, 
' Why, sir, the suit of clothes you gave 
him is all ragged and torn.' 

" ' Well, if you go, I '11 give him 
another suit if he will come to school.' 

" So next Sabbath she hunted him 
up, and induced her truant boy to re- 
turn once more. He called upon the 
superintendent the next week and got 
his suit of clothes ; but lo ! the next 
Sabbath he was again among the miss- 
ing ; and so it proved again and again, 
for four weeks more; so at the next 
monthly meeting she reported how un- 
successful she had been. ' I must give 
him up/ 



HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 11 

" The superintendent said, ' Why, it 
is hard to give him up and let him go 
to ruin.' He exhorted the lady then to 
try it one month longer. She begged 
to be excused. ' Why, that second suit 
you gave him has shared the fate of the 
first,' 

" ' Well, well, never mind, if you will 
go and try it again, I will give him a 
third suit.' 

"So she went and brought the boy 
back for the three following Sabbaths ; 
but on the fourth Sabbath she found, to 
her surprise, little Morrison there in his 
place of his own accord, and from that 
time on he became a most interesting 
scholar. He was led to the Saviour, 
experienced religion, made great im- 
provement, and became a mighty and 
useful ^missionary of the Christian 
Church." 



12 EOBERT MOKRISON. 

It does not appear that his father at 
first had any thoughts of giving him an 
education, nor is it certain he was, in a 
pecuniary point of view, able to do so. 
He was, moreover, the youngest of the 
family, which, in that country and in 
those days, was by no means in his 
favor. 

He first went to school to an uncle, 
where he studied hard enough, but, as 
it appears, did not make much progress. 
He had, however, an excellent memory. 
When in his thirteenth year, we are 
told, he repeated, one evening, with the 
utmost accuracy, the whole of the hun- 
dred and nineteenth psalm ; though we 
are not told how long he was in learn- 
ing it. 

I have said that his progress at first 
was slow. It is not a little remarkable 
that some of the most powerful minds 



HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 13 

the world has seen have been, for a 
time, slow to expand. With the ex- 
amples of Patrick Henry and the mathe- 
matician Daboll most persons are fami- 
liar. 

At an early age he was apprenticed 
to his father, to learn the trade of a 
boot-tree and last maker. We are told 
that he was industrious in his calling, 
and made very satisfactory proficiency. 
His dutiful regard to his father and 
mother was particularly commendable. 
He was greatly attached to his mother ; 
and she, on the other hand, possessed 
great influence over him. It is even 
said that among the sons he was her 
favorite. How far this favoritism ex- 
tended I do not know, though it does 
not seem that he was injured by it, as 
might have been the result. He ever 
held her memory in the highest esteem. 



14 ROBERT MORRISON. 

He was, moreover, remarkable for his 
frankness and strict adherence to truth. 
He was often heard to say that he did 
not remember having uttered but one 
falsehood ; and then, though there was 
no probability of his being detected, he 
could not rest till he had confessed his 
fault. This was an exceedingly good 
sign of future probity and usefulness. 

And yet, notwithstanding his good 
conduct at home, and, in general, abroad, 
there were some few irregularities. Per- 
haps his father, in his stern old English 
rule, kept him a little too close, so that 
when he went abroad he was liable to 
go beyond the mark. I have seen boys 
kept under to an extent that led them 
to feel like so many wild bulls in nets, 
and to endeavor to break over their 
bounds when let loose. 

When he was about sixteen years of 



HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 15 

age he gave very satisfactory evidences 
of piety. We are not told whether he 
made at once a public profession of re- 
ligion. His father appears to have been 
an elder of a Scotch Church in New- 
castle ; but the son joined another 
Church — the Presbyterian. 

It has been remarked — particularly 
by the distinguished British writer, 
John Foster — that piety is a great 
quickener of the intellect. I have no 
doubt that it is so. Christianity is as 
philosophical as it is practical. It ele- 
vates as well as purifies the mind. I 
have been particularly struck with the 
truth of this in studying the character 
of Mr. Morrison. I have told you that 
he was naturally slow to learn ; but after 
his conversion it was otherwise. His love 
of knowledge increased also, as well as 
his ability to pursue and acquire it. 



16 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTER II. 

HIS EARLY STUDIES AND ENGAGEMENTS. 

On the first day of January, 1799, 
when he was within a few days of 
being seventeen years of age, Mr. Mor- 
rison commenced a journal, or diary, 
which he continued to keep for several 
years. This reveals many of his habits 
of mind and body, and is an interesting 
document. From numerous extracts 
from this journal, as published in his 
Memoirs, by Mrs. Morrison, his widow, 
— to which work I am chiefly indebted 
for the information contained in this 
sketch, — we may gather the following 
facts. 

Mr. Morrison was, in the first place, 
an early riser. Day after day, and I 



HIS EARLY STUDIES. IT 

might almost say week after week, he 
rose at five o'clock. To this rule there 
are only four exceptions in all the nu- 
merous extracts from his journal which 
are given, (except Sundays,) and over 
one of these he mourned exceedingly — 
adding a resolution not to be caught so 
again. 

It is to be regretted that so good a 
man as he should have fallen in, as he 
did, with the very general custom which 
then prevailed, and which prevails even 
now, of lying in bed later on Sunday 
mornings than at other times. If Sun- 
day is of no authority whatever, — if, as 
some pretend, it is the same as all other 
days, — then Ave should rise as early on 
that day as on any other. But if it is 
a day to be kept holy in a special man- 
ner, it is most certainly a wicked thing 
to waste any part of it in bed. 



18 ROBERT MORRISON. 

I know there is an apology often 
made, that we are unusually fatigued 
on Saturday evenings, and therefore 
need to lie later on Sunday morning. 
But will such an apology be made by 
Christians? Will it satisfy their own 
consciences ? Will it answer their pur- 
pose at the great, last tribunal ? What 
right have they to get so fatigued as to 
be obliged to encroach upon the sacred- 
ness of the Sabbath ? 

Mr. Morrison was not only up early, 
in general, but he was awake while he 
was up. Few men have been more 
active. From twelve to fourteen hours 
were spent daily in manual labor, and 
only seven in bed. This, at most, left 
him but six hours for meals, devotions, 
and everything else. How he could do 
so much in the way of improving his 
mind and heart, and doing good to 



HIS EARLY STUDIES. 19 

others, in this scanty period, is probably 
inconceivable to most persons. 

He was, even at this early period, 
fond of writing essays. The progress 
of this part of his labors was much 
facilitated by writing in short-hand. 
His journal, it would seem, was kept in 
the same way. 

Among his studies, while at his work, 
were botany, arithmetic, and astrono- 
my. Grammar is mentioned, but he 
seems to have learned this pretty thor- 
oughly at school. 

He read much, it is said ; and some- 
times, though I believe rarely, he suffer- 
ed his books and studies to beguile the 
hours till it was one or two o'clock in 
the morning. Even when at his work, 
he had a Bible or some other book open 
before him. Of the Bible, indeed, he 

was peculiarly fond. 
2 



20 ROBERT MORRISON. 

He had a little garden, where he 
spent much of his leisure time in study, 
prayer, and meditation. His reading, it 
appears, was chiefly of a devotional 
kind. 

The remark has been repeatedly 
made, that many men, celebrated for 
their cultivated talents, have had their 
minds fed with but few books. Dr. 
Johnson used to say of himself that he 
hardly knew whether he had ever read 
any book through but the Bible. Mr. 
Morrison had but few books within his 
reach. Hervey's Works, Romaine's 
Letters, Marshall on Sanctification, 
Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, and 
Henry's Commentary, are all that are 
mentioned, except perhaps a magazine 
or two, and, at a very early period of 
his life, a work on the Evidences of 
Christianity. 



HIS EARLY STUDIES. 21 

Among the magazines to which his 
attention was drawn was the Mission- 
ary Magazine, a monthly journal, then 
published at Edinburgh. This work — 
loaned to him by a friend — is supposed 
to have been the honored instrument of 
turning his mind toward the great sub- 
ject of missionary labors. 

But I have not yet mentioned all 
which he did. Among his engagements 
was one with a young religious friend 
of about the same age with himself. 
They met daily for reading, conversation, 
and other religious purposes, and for 
mutual improvement. 

He was also a member of a " praying 
society," which met every Monday 
evening in his father's work-shop. On 
these occasions he often took a part in 
the devotional exercises. It is even 
intimated by his biographer that he be- 



22 ROBERT MORRISON. 

longed to a " Friendless Poor and Sick 
Society." Certain it is that both he 
and his young daily associate in read- 
ing went often to visit the sick, both in 
company and separate from each other. 
" During the whole of the year 1800 he 
was actively engaged in visiting the 
sick/' says his biographer, " with whom 
he read the Scriptures and prayed, and 
to whose temporal relief he assigned, 
every week, a portion of his scanty 
earnings." And as if this were not 
enough for a young man of seventeen 
or eighteen, who worked as a mechanic 
twelve or fourteen hours daily, his 
Saturday evenings were often employed 
in seeking out objects of distress, whom 
he might thus visit and relieve. 

I repeat, therefore, that if any one 
could find an excuse for lying in bed a 
little later on Sunday morning than on 



HIS EARLY STUDIES. 23 

other mornings, it was such a man as 
Mr. Morrison. 

The intervals of his Sabbaths were 
employed partly in visiting and admin- 
istering consolation to the sick and the 
aged, and partly in the instruction of 
poor children. He never failed to at- 
tend public worship, from his very 
youth, when such attendance was pos- 
sible. 

The sterling character of his piety is 
shown in other ways still. A lad was 
apprenticed to his father who greatly 
needed the watchful care of somebody. 
Over this lad young Morrison watched 
like a father, and more than a father. 
He not only instructed him in the great 
principles of religion, and gave him 
many counsels and cautions indispensa- 
ble to his safety at a tender age, away 
from parents and home, but actually 



24 ROBERT MORRISON. 

took him aside, from time to time, to 
pray with him. 

Such was the confidence reposed in 
him by his parents, that even at this 
early age he often conducted the do- 
mestic worship of his father's house. 
This is one of the most difficult duties 
of all. I do not say it is the most 
laborious; but all who have had ex- 
perience in these matters know that it 
is at once delicate and difficult. 

I must mention one thing more. It 
is not easy to say how much a person 
prays, because that which is the most 
truly prayer cannot be seen ; yet, judg- 
ing as well as we are able, Mr. Morri- 
son, at this early period, was preemi- 
nently a man of prayer. 

His biographer — she who survived 
him as his widow — thus says : " In 
prayer he was abundant. Rising in 



HIS EARLY STUDIES. 25 

the morning, he prayed ; amid the bus- 
tle and business of the day he retired 
to pray ; the society of his companions 
and friends he sanctified by prayer ; 
and, retiring at night, his day was 
closed in prayer. 0, for an equal 
measure of his devotional spirit !" 



26 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTEE in. 

HIS HABITS AND STATE OF HEALTH. 

We have seen what was the education 
and what were some of the habits of a 
wonderful man — one whose name will 
be remembered while time endures, and 
cannot be forgotten when time passes 
away. But we have to observe with 
regret that his bodily powers were 
feeble, as is quite too often the case 
where we find a mind so brilliant and a 
heart so devoted to God and humanity. 
" Death," as we have long heard, " loves 
a shining mark." 

" A feeble man," you will say, per- 
haps, "and yet able to labor twelve or 
fourteen hours with his hands, and toil 
with his brain the rest of the time ! 



HABITS AND STATE OF HEALTH. 21 

What does such an assertion mean ? 
If here is not evidence that he pos- 
sessed a very vigorous constitution, 
pray where could it be found ?" 

Let us look at the facts in the case. 
In his journal for the years 1799 and 
1800 there are frequent references to 
headache, "an affliction from which, at 
intervals," says his biographer, " he 
suffered severely to the very close of 
his life. His mother was aware of its 
approach by the heat of his forehead, 
and was wont to watch this appearance 
with deep anxiety." 

We are not expressly told that this 
complaint afflicted him before he was 
seventeen years of age, though w r e are 
assured it did not leave him afterward. 
The presumption is that it was consti- 
tutional — that he always had more or 
less of it from the very beginning of his 



28 ROBERT MORRISON". 

existence. This suspicion is strength- 
ened, if not confirmed, by the following 
remark, which follows close upon the 
former: "Whatever might be the im- 
mediate cause of these symptoms, they 
betokened a constitution by no means 
robust, and were certainly unfavorable 
to the sedentary habits to which his life 
was ultimately devoted." They were 
equally unfavorable to the habits which 
he had thus early formed of taxing so 
constantly all his powers of body, mind, 
and soul. Men who are not very strong 
may endure, uninjured, twelve or four- 
teen hours a day of bodily labor, pro- 
vided this is all; but when to this 
exercise of the body we join constant 
labor of the mind and continual anxiety 
of the soul, the individual must be more 
than human to endure it for a long life. 
Such men seldom pass the climacteric 



HABITS AND STATE OF HEALTH. 29 

period of sixty-three. Mr. Morrison 
fell short of it by ten or twelve years. 

There is one other statement concern- 
ing Mr. Morrison's early health, which 
confirms the suspicion that he was never 
strong, and that the wear and tear of his 
early life, as I have described it, was all 
the while lessening his native stock of 
vitality, and preparing him for a pre- 
mature death. He complained much 
of drowsiness. This was so great at 
evening that he was often compelled to 
retire to rest very early, even before the 
hour for family worship ; and this, too, 
in some instances, when he had not sat 
up at his studies "till one or two 
o'clock" the night before. 

When will the Church and the world, 
in this particular, learn wisdom ? When 
will they learn to take such men as 
Mr. Morrison, and train their physical 



30 ROBERT MORRISON. 

powers as carefully as they do their 
moral and intellectual? When this 
blessed day arrives, the conversion of the 
world will not so linger as now. Let 
us learn from the past, and let us not 
only learn what is right, but perform it. 



PREPARES TO BE A MINISTER. 31 



CHAPTEE IV. 

HE PREPARES TO BE A MINISTER. 

It does not clearly appear that when 
Robert Morrison first began to do good 
he had the remotest thought of be- 
coming a minister — above all, a mis- 
sionary to foreign countries. He had 
acted under the impulse of that benevo- 
lence to which genuine piety always 
prompts, and done good as opportunity 
offered ; but of any higher aims we are 
not informed. 

But doing good produces a love of 
the work ; and in being a doer of good 
on a small scale, he was led to desire to 
become a missionary. And, reader, who- 
ever you are, remember that this is the 
way to make missionaries. They must 



32 ROBERT MORRISON. 

be trained from early life to do good. 
When every member of Christ's Church 
can be trained to act the missionary 
every day, there will be no want of 
self-denying men and women to go to 
China, or Japan, or other heathen coun- 
tries. It will be much harder to induce 
them to stay at home than it now is to 
persuade them to venture abroad. 

From Mr. Morrison's journal of June 
19, 1801, we may extract this passage : 
" This day I entered, with Mr. Laidler, 
to learn Latin. I paid ten shillings 
and sixpence, the entrance money, and 
am to pay one guinea per quarter. I 
know not what may be the end — God 
only knows. It is my desire, if he 
pleases to spare me in the world, to 
serve the Gospel of Christ as he shall 
give opportunity." 

Mr. Laidler was a minister, and, at 



PREPARES TO BE A MINISTER. 33 

the same time, a teacher of youth. Mr. 
Morrison was now about half way in his 
twentieth year. In these days it may 
be thought a late period at which to 
begin the study of Latin, and it would 
most certainly be preferable to begin 
earlier. But Mr. Morrison had not his 
choice : he had done what he could in 
the circumstances. And it is difficult 
to conceive how he expected even now 
to be able to proceed with his studies. 
The expense was to be saved out of his 
earnings ; and, in order to this, he must 
work just as much as before. Accord- 
ingly, he began and ended his twelve 
hours of labor at the same time as be- 
fore, except that he sometimes continued 
them rather later in the evening. He 
recited to Mr. Laidler one hour, namely, 
between nine and ten in the forenoon. 
To make up for this hour he abridged 



34 ROBERT MORRISON. 

his sleep. This abridgment of his sleep 
was wrong, unless he was in the habit 
of sleeping too much, which is hardly 
probable. So was another habit — that 
of studying at his meals. Yet it would 
have been difficult, at that age, to con- 
vince him of his error. 

He studied with Mr. Laidler a year 
and a half. At the end of this time he 
had not only acquired a tolerable knowl- 
edge of the Latin language, but the 
rudiments also of Greek and Hebrew. 
His perseverance under difficulties was 
as great as his love of learning, and 
both seemed to be unconquerable. 

He was more and more impressed 
with the duty of becoming a minister ; 
but how he should accomplish it he 
could not see. Whether he had at this 
time begun to think of becoming a for- 
eign missionary is not so certain, but it 



PREPARES TO BE A MINISTER. 35 

is by no means improbable. His teacher, 
who understood very well his character, 
did not discourage him ; on the con- 
trary, he took every suitable opportu- 
nity for cheering him up and pressing 
him gently onward in the cause to 
which he found him so devotedly in- 
clined. 

His attention was directed at this 
time to Hoxton Academy, afterward 
Highbury College, an institution near 
London, designed to prepare the sons 
of Evangelical Dissenters for the min- 
istry. Greatly desirous of attending it, 
he wrote for admittance. He was duly 
received by the committee, and request- 
ed to enter immediately. He arrived in 
London January 6, 1803 — the very 
next day after he was twenty-one years 
of age. 

He was not without his trials. For 

3 



36 ROBERT MORRISON. 

some time past his father's health had 
been declining, and, on many accounts, 
it seemed desirable that the son should 
remain with him, and continue the busi- 
ness. It is not, therefore, wonderful 
that the father should be opposed to his 
pursuing his studies. And then he had 
scarcely arrived at the college, and en- 
tered on his studies, before a request 
came more pressing than ever — the 
father almost demanded his assistance. 

Many, no doubt, regarded him as 
over-ambitious, many as rash, and some 
as actually disobedient and hard-hearted. 
But he had "counted the cost;" and, 
though he wished much to return to his 
father, he could not see it to be his duty. 
He concluded, therefore, to remain, and 
did so. 

He entered with all his youthful ar- 
dor upon those various branches of 



PREPARES TO BE A MINISTER. 37 

sacred and classical literature which 
were pursued in the institution. Prac- 
tically, the seminary was a school of 
theology. While here he formed an ac- 
quaintance with several young men who 
afterward became deservedly prominent. 

It is scarcely necessary to enter into 
particulars concerning his studies at 
Hoxton. I will only say that all went 
on well and satisfactorily. Mr. Morri- 
son grew in favor with all who knew 
him, and was truly regarded as a bud 
of much promise to the Church and to 
the nation. 

His miscellaneous labors among the 
sick, the poor, &c, on week-days, and 
among the children on Sundays, were 
continued. Social meetings, too, he at- 
tended whenever he had opportunity. 
From the services of the Church on the 
Sabbath, if in health, he never absented 



38 ROBERT MORRISON. 

himself. While there, he began to 
preach occasionally. First, he preached 
in a work-house ; after that he preached 
for an itinerant society in the villages 
round about London; and, in some in- 
stances, he was sent to greater dis- 
tances, and to larger congregations, both 
in the city and country. 



DETERMINES TO BE A MISSIONARY. 39 



CHAPTEE V. 

HE DETERMINES TO BE A MISSIONARY. 

Whether Mr. Morrison had or had not 
thought much about becoming a foreign 
missionary prior to his going to Hoxton, 
it is quite certain that while there the 
subject forced itself upon his mind more 
and more ; and, to increase his atten- 
tion, it was represented to him, by the 
officers of the institution, as a thing 
highly desirable, that some individual 
of talents not unlike his own should at 
once volunteer for this service. But he 
was just now becoming ardently de- 
voted to study. There were tempta- 
tions both ways. An offer had been 
made him to pursue his studies free of 
expense, if he would remain, at one of 



40 ROBERT MORRISON. 

the Scotch universities. This last he 
knew, moreover, would gratify his aged 
father, although it was becoming every 
day more and more apparent that his 
father was ready to acquiesce in -what 
seemed to be the will of Divine Provi- 
dence. 

But the greatest difficulty lay in an- 
other direction still. It appears that as 
early as his eighteenth year he had be- 
come engaged — or partially so — to mar- 
ry a young woman at Newcastle. The 
attachment on both sides was sincere, 
and was undiminished, notwithstanding 
the absence of Mr. Morrison, till he be- 
gan to talk of going forth as a mission- 
ary : then she was unwilling to accom- 
pany him to foreign countries. 

All these obstacles did not suffice to 
shake his determination, and he accord- 
ingly proceeded to offer himself to the 



DETERMINES TO BE A MISSIONARY. 41 

directors of the London Missionary So- 
ciety. He was examined, and on the 
same day received, namely, on May 28, 
1804, when he was a little more than 
twenty-two years of age. 

There was at this period a small mis- 
sionary academy at a place called Gos- 
port, under the care of a venerable man 
by the name of Bogue. Thither it was 
determined to send Mr. Morrison till it 
should be decided what was the best 
field for him. 

Three or four stations were thought 
of by the committee. One was the 
interior of Africa; another was the 
Prince of Wales Island, in the Straits 
of Malacca ; a third was China. After 
considerable discussion and delay, it was 
determined to send him to China. 

It was intended at first to send out 
to China a company of three or four 



42 ROBERT MORRISON. 

persons ; but some who were appointed 
refused to go. Other difficulties had 
also arisen. It was finally concluded to 
send out Mr. Morrison single-handed. 

The good man tried in vain to per- 
suade somebody to accompany him, not 
doubting that if a worthy man should 
volunteer his services the authorities 
would appoint him. But they were 
not brought to the trial ; for all the wit, 
and eloquence, and pathos, and piety of 
Mr. Morrison were not sufficient to pre- 
vail with one of his friends to join his 
standard. 

In May, 1805, he went from Gosport 
to London, to attend the annual meet- 
ing of the Missionary Society, and such 
other meetings as had a similar charac- 
ter and object. These, as he afterward 
stated, were of great service to him, 
especially at that juncture. 



DETERMINES TO BE A MISSIONARY. 43 

He returned to Gosport, where he 
continued his missionary studies till 
August, when he went again to Lon- 
don, to obtain some knowledge of medi- 
cine and astronomy, which he justly 
thought might prove serviceable to him ; 
also to obtain, if possible, a little knowl- 
edge of the Chinese language. 



44 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTER VI. 

HIS MISSIONARY STUDIES IN LONDON. 

He found no considerable difficulty in 
obtaining access to lectures, in London, 
on astronomy and medicine. To both 
these sciences for some time he gave 
the closest possible attention. The 
family in which he resided were struck 
with his strict economy in the manage- 
ment of his time — so unlike what they 
had observed in only ordinary students. 
He rose very early, and every moment 
which was not devoted to study was 
spent in trying to make some one with- 
in the range of his influence either wiser 
or better. A female domestic, highly 
esteemed in the family, was, by his in- 
defatigable exertions, brought to a sav- 



MISSIONARY STUDIES QT LONDON. 45 

ing acquaintance with the Gtospel. I 
have said that he improved every mo- 
ment of his time not allotted to study ; 
but it would be difficult to say what 
time was not allotted to study, for he 
was ahvays studying, except during 
the six hours which he now assigned to 
sleep. I have before told you that he 
carried a book with him to the table, 
and that he had something before his 
eye always while at work. He went 
still further now. The family with 
whom he boarded lived a long w r ay 
from the place where he attended lec- 
tures, and it was his custom not only to 
walk to and from the lectures for his 
health's sake, but to read and study as 
he walked along. 

This statement is not made in com- 
mendation, for I do not think such a 
practice ought to be imitated. But it 



46 ROBERT MORRISON. 

shows Mr. Morrison's character — it 
shows of what material the man was 
made who became so useful and dis- 
tinguished in after life. 

It has been already observed that 
one object which Mr. Morrison had in 
view in spending a winter in London 
was to obtain, if possible, some acquaint- 
ance with the Chinese language. There 
was at this time in the city a young 
Chinese, tolerably well educated accord- 
ing to the customs of his country, whose 
name was Yong-Sam-Tak. An arrange- 
ment was made by the friends of Mr. 
Morrison, and he forthwith proceeded to 
take lessons of the young Chinaman. 

But his task was a difficult one. The 
natives of China are proverbially domin- 
eering, and Yong-Sam soon gave evi- 
dence that he belonged to the race. 
Mr. Morrison submitted as well as he 



MISSIONARY STUDIES IX LONDON. 47 

could ; for he had learned, in the prog- 
ress of a long discipline, not to be dis- 
couraged by small obstacles. 

On one occasion, happening to throw 
into the fire a small bit of paper, on 
which he had written some characters 
that he had been committing to memory, 
Sam's indignation was so much roused 
that for three days afterward he refused 
to give him any lessons. To avoid the 
possibility of repeating the offense, Mr. 
Morrison procured and wrote on little 
pieces of tin, which the fire could not 
at once destroy, if, in his absence of 
mind, he should happen to throw them 
into it. 

As soon as he could write Chinese he 
proceeded to the w r ork of copying books. 
There was at this time in the British 
Museum a manuscript version of the 
New Testament, in the Chinese Ian- 



48 ROBERT MORRISON. 

guage. The Royal Society of London 
had also a manuscript Latin and Chinese 
Dictionary. Both these manuscripts — 
such was his diligence — he transcribed, 
word for word, in a very few months, 
besides attending faithfully to his other 
studies and duties. 

When Mr. Morrison was on a visit to 
England, in 1824, he attended a public 
meeting in that country, at which he 
presented his Chinese version of the 
Bible. At this meeting, a Mr. Butter- 
worth came forward, and made the fol- 
lowing statement. I need not say to 
whom it referred. 

" It is now many years ago that, in 
visiting the library of the British Mu- 
seum, I frequently saw a young man 
who appeared to be deeply occupied in 
his studies. The book he was reading 
appeared to be in a language and char- 



MISSIONARY STUDIES IX LONDON. 49 

acter totally unknown to me. My 
curiosity was awakened, and, apologizing 
to him for the liberty I was taking, I 
ventured to ask what was the language 
that engaged so much of his attention ? 

" ' The Chinese/ he modestly replied. 

"'And do you understand the lan- 
guage ? ' I said. 

" ' I am trying to understand it,' he 
added ; ' but it is attended with singu- 
lar difficulty.' 

"'And what may be your object/ I 
asked, ' in studying a language so pro- 
verbially difficult of attainment, and 
considered to be even insuperable to 
European talent and industry?' 

" ' I can scarcely define my motives/ 
he remarked. 'All that I know is that 
my mind is powerfully wrought upon by 
some strong and indescribable impulse ; 
and if the language be capable of being 



50 ROBERT MORRISON. 

surmounted by human zeal and perse- 
verance I mean to make the experi- 
ment. What may be the final result 
time only can develop.' " 

A remark in his diary, which has 
reference to this period, will show, in 
his own way and manner, how indefati- 
gably he applied himself to what was 
before him : — 

"After my arrival in London I was 
exceedingly busy, running from one 
place to another, and attending to medi- 
cine and the Chinese language. The 
Lord, in much mercy, granted me health 
and strength to go on in the good work. 
On the 8th of October Tong-Sam-Tak 
came to live with me, to teach me the 
Chinese language, in which I am daily 
making a little progress." 

He soon after abandoned the study 
and practice of medicine, and applied 



MISSIONARY STUDIES W LONDON. 51 

himself more closely than before to 
mathematics and astronomy. But his 
great study, after all, was the Bible. 
He said in his diary, about this time, 
" I am ashamed when I see how dili- 
gent Yong-Sam is in reading the books 
of Confucius, and how little I read the 
Holy Scriptures — the book of God." 

His attention was directed occasion- 
ally to all sorts of people, wherever he 
saw before him the slightest prospect of 
doing them good. In a letter to a 
brother, written about this time, he 
thus says : " I have this evening been 
preaching to some black people, who 
are gathered together, and formed into 
a society by some devoted people among 
us. There was present a black soldier, 
who plays on the cymbals, and who, our 
friends hope, is a truly gracious man." 

This, however, is only a single in- 



52 ROBERT MORRISON. 

stance of his efforts to do good. He 
preached in factories, to charitable so- 
cieties, to boatmen, to children, to any- 
body, in short, who would hear hira, 
but especially to those who seemed to 
be neglected by everybody else. 

A little while before he was to set 
out for China he visited his friends at 
Newcastle, to bid them farewell, — some 
of whom, however, were no longer 
among the living. His visit was short. 
He loved them as well as ever, perhaps 
better than ever; but he began to feel 
somewhat as our Saviour did when he 
said to his wondering father and mother, 
and other earthly friends, who knew al- 
most nothing about the missionary spirit, 
u Wist ye not that I must be about my 
Father's business?" 



HE SAILS FOR CHINA. 53 



CHAPTER VII. 

HE SAILS FOR CHINA. 

The year 1807 had now arrived. On 
the 8th of January of this year he was 
regularly and formally ordained a min- 
ister of the Gospel among the heathen. 
Two other missionaries, by the names 
of Gordon and Lee, were ordained at 
the same time, to go to Hindostan. 
Mr. Morrison was now just twenty-five 
years of age. 

He was to go out by the way of New- 
York. One reason for going by this 
route was that he might obtain a resi- 
dence in the American factory at Can- 
ton. There were at that period strong 
prejudices in England, and all parts of 
India where the British had influence, 



54 ROBERT MORRISON. 

against missionaries ; while in the United 
States, and consequently in their factory 
at Canton, the prejudice was not so 
great. It was difficult for anybody to 
obtain permission to settle there as a 
place of residence — above all, for mis- 
sionaries to do so. 

How different from the state of things 
in 1854, less than half a century later ! 
We see the whole East — Japan itself 
hardly excepted — open for the reception 
of all sorts of people, missionaries as 
well as others! Well may we say, 
" What hath God wrought !" 

It was a great thing in those days to 
go to China, above all, as a missionary. 
The society that sent him out, therefore, 
not only gave him a long letter of Chris- 
tian counsel, but also a code of general 
instructions. Missionary boards in these 
days would have no time for much else, 



HE SAILS FOR CHINA. 55 

if to every missionary, or to every group 
of missionaries, that go out, they were 
to give but half the attention which was 
paid to Mr. Morrison. 

Among other things alluded to in 
their instructions, two are remarkable. 

1. They say, "You may have the 
honor of forming a Chinese Dictionary, 
more comprehensive and correct than 
any preceding one ; or the still greater 
honor of translating the sacred Scrip- 
tures into a language spoken by a third 
part of the human race." How almost 
prophetic this was we shall hereafter 
see. 

2. But they also exhort him to en- 
deavor to be ever useful to those around 
him, in all sorts of ways which the Di- 
vine Providence may open by conversa- 
tion, lectures, teaching, &c. 

As to the means of support on his 



56 KOBERT MORRISON. 

contemplated mission he was not over 
anxious on that subject \ yet, to quiet 
his relatives and friends, in a letter to 
his father, he said thus : " I have letters 
of introduction to a great many -Chris- 
tian friends in New- York, who will en- 
deavor to obtain for me a residence in 
the American factory at Canton. The 
society puts into my hand seven hun- 
dred and fifty dollars, which I am to 
keep untouched till I arrive at China, 
as I have my passage paid. I have, 
moreover, one hundred dollars for cur- 
rent expenses. They give me likewise 
letters of credit, to the amount of one 
thousand dollars, on persons at Canton, 
Malacca, and Prince of Wales Island. 
I am instructed to act very much as 
circumstances may arise, and to provide, 
either in whole or in part, for myself, if 
I possibly can." 



HE SAILS FOR CHINA. 5? 

It was reported, both before, and after 
he sailed, that he went out without any 
means of support on his arrival, and that 
he would have no certainty of getting 
his livelihood, except by taking profiles. 
But this was a mistake. He had, in- 
deed, learned to take profiles ; and as 
Paul went out on his missionary excur- 
sions qualified to make tents, so he 
went out with apparatus for taking 
profiles, should he find it necessary or 
convenient to do so. However, he was 
fully authorized to draw on the treasurer 
of the London Missionary Society, at 
any time, for whatever money he really 
needed. 

He left London, January 28, 1807, 
for Gravesend, there to wait the arrival 
of the ship in which he was to sail for 
New- York. He was alone, but Messrs. 
Gordon and Lee had their wives with 



58 ROBERT MORRISON. 

them. The ship which was expected 
arrived on the 31st, and at twelve 
o'clock he embarked in her. The Mis- 
sionary Society had sent with him to 
Gravesend one of their secretaries, and 
many friends had also accompanied him. 
He bade them farewell, and the vessel 
immediately set sail on its long voyage. 



THE VOYAGE TO CANTON. 59 



CHAPTER Yin. 

THE VOYAGE TO CANTON. 

The name of the ship in which they 
sailed was the Remittance. She was 
detained a long time in the British 
Channel by unfavorable winds. During 
the detention a violent gale sprung up, 
which sunk many vessels and drove 
ashore others, and the Remittance her- 
self narrowly escaped. 

It was not, indeed, till almost the end 
of February that they left their native 
shores ; and then, on their approach to 
the United States, they experienced 
many gales and much unfavorable 
weather. The result was that they 
were one hundred and nine days in 
reaching New- York. This, to us who 



60 ROBERT MORRISON. 

cross the Atlantic now in one-eleventh 
part of the time, seems a very long 
voyage. 

Mr. Morrison kept a journal of the 
voyage ; but, to us of modern times, 
who have read and heard so much of 
ocean scenes and ocean storms and ad- 
ventures, it possesses very few charms. 
The greatest of these is its wonderful 
vein of piety. Mr. Morrison was a man, 
most surely, of whom the world knew 
but little, and of whom, as of the apos- 
tles of old, it was not worthy. 

I will venture to relate two or three 
short anecdotes of the voyage, as they 
are somewhat striking and highly in- 
structive. The first relates to a danger 
which occurred in the night. 

" The sea ran mountains high, and the 
atmosphere was so thick with snow that 
we could n6t see the length of the ship 



THE VOYAGE TO CANTON. 61 

around us. In the midst of our ex- 
tremity an alarm was raised that the 
ship was on fire, owing to the bursting 
of some bottles of vitriol. The pilot and 
one of the men leaped into the mizzen- 
chains, in order to jump overboard, — 
which was to cast themselves into the 
arms of death, — as they preferred death 
in that form to being burned to death. 
Happily, however, the other men had 
courage enough to seize the bottles and 
push them overboard." 

The other anecdote referred to was of 
a very different character. During a 
storm, scarcely less severe than the 
other, when they were about to cut 
away the masts, Mr. Morrison chanced 
to hear a colored man say something 
which sounded in his ear like "It 
sinks !" For a minute or two he 
thought all were going to the bottom. 



62 ROBERT MORRISON. 

His fears were confirmed when, on ask- 
ing the colored man what he said, he 
shook his head, saying, "It is no mat- 
ter." But he soon found that the man 
was saying something about the -good 
condition of the pump ; and, instead of 
saying, " It sinks," he had only said to 
the captain, " It sucks." 

They had the happiness, in one or 
two instances, on their passage, to be 
able to relieve distress. Eleven persons, 
in one instance, on board of a brig which 
was sinking, were taken off and saved. 

They arrived in New- York on the 
20th of April, and stopped at the City 
Hotel. Here they received letters from 
their friends in England, who, knowing 
something of the dangers they had en- 
countered, had written on to them at 
New- York. Of course, they replied to 
them as quickly as possible. 



THE VOYAGE TO CANTON. 63 

While in New-York they formed many 
valuable acquaintances. They also went 
to Philadelphia, to u make as much in- 
terest as possible" with the general 
government relative to obtaining the 
protection of the American consul at 
Canton. 

Before finally leaving Xew-York they 
received a letter from Mr. Madison, then 
secretary of state, directed to Mr. Car- 
rington, the United States consul at 
Canton, requesting him to do all in his 
power on their behalf. 

They sought a long time for vessels 
going to Canton, but could find none. 
One vessel they found going to India, 
but as the captain was afraid of offend- 
ing the British government, lie abso- 
lutely refused to take any passengers. 
They at length found a vessel bound to 
Canton, but the owners would not take 



64 ROBERT MORRISON. 

passengers for less than one thousand 
dollars ! 

How Messrs. Gordon and Lee got 
along, in the end, I cannot say; but 
Mr. Morrison was fortunate enough, 
after long search, to find a vessel bound 
to Canton, which would take him out at 
a reasonable price. It was called the 
Trident. 

There is a good anecdote of Mr. Mor- 
rison as he was about leaving New- York. 
Stepping into the counting-room to ar- 
range his business matters, he met with 
just such a man as you will often find 
in the world. It was easy to be seen, 
in his whole character, features, w T ords, 
and actions, that he looked upon Mr. 
Morrison as a pitiable enthusiast. As 
the latter was about to leave, he turned 
toward him with a sardonic grin, and 
said, "And so, Mr. Morrison, you really 



THE VOYAGE TO CANTON. 65 

expect that you will make an impres- 
sion upon the idolatry of the great 
Chinese empire ? " 

"No, sir/' said Mr. Morrison, with 
more than his usual sternness : " I ex- 
pect God will." 

The man of money said no more, nor 
did Mr. Morrison. 

The Trident sailed from New- York 
May 12, 1807. Of the particulars of 
the voyage little is known. A journal 
was kept, but it was afterward lost. 
We learn one thing, however, that Mr. 
Morrison kept himself so closely con- 
fined to his studies — Hebrew, Greek, 
and Chinese — as affected his health. 
We also learn that he was afflicted with 
sea-sickness, as he had been in the 
British Channel on first sailing ; but his 
sickness was short. 

In just ninety days from the time of 



66 ROBERT MORRISON. 

leaving New- York they came to Java; 
and in one hundred and thirteen days 
they anchored in Macao Roads. In 
general their voyage was favorable ; but 
they had severe gales for the last month, 
after they arrived in the Indian Ocean. 
Mr. Morrison's health suffered not a 
little during his journey. He was troub- 
led with what he called a superficial in- 
flammation, and also with headache. He 
attributed it to living so long on salt 
provisions; but he had lived on them 
very little longer in this instance than 
he did on his voyage from Gravesend to 
New- York, and yet he did not suffer so 
much at that time. It must be remem- 
bered — what the missionary seems to 
have forgot — that in this part of the 
voyage he studied harder than ever be- 
fore. "From morning till midnight," 
said he, in a letter to his friend, " I am 



THE VOYAGE TO CANTON. 67 

engaged ; and then there is much left 
undone." A man who studies from 
morning till midnight, and takes but 
little exercise, must expect to have 
headache : happy if he escapes so well 
even; especially if, like Mr. Morrison, 
he is constitutionally subject to head- 
ache. 

5 



68 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ARRIVAL AT CANTON. 

The Trident arrived at Canton Septem- 
ber 7. The noise and bustle as they 
landed, about eight o'clock in the even- 
ing, were, as the missionary said in his 
journal, extreme. There was the row- 
ing of boats, the working of ships, and 
thousands of Chinese talking and hal- 
looing one to another. "Among their 
boats," says he, "I saw thousands of 
little splinters of wood, similar to our 
matches, lighted up in honor of their 
imaginary divinities." Surely he was, 
on heathen ground now, without the 
possibility of mistake ! 

His first residence was, as he desired, 
in one of the factories occupied by 



ARRIVAL AT CAXTOX. 69 

American gentlemen, to whom he had 
been introduced by letters from New- 
York. These gentlemen received him 
with much kindness, and did all they 
could to render his situation at once 
comfortable and useful. Mr. Carring- 
ton, the consul, had also showed him 
great kindness, and had offered him a 
room in his house, which for various 
reasons was not accepted! 

He dared not be known at first as an 
Englishman, but passed for an American. 
How he could honestly pass thus I do 
not quite understand ; but such was his 
strict conscientiousness in all other mat- 
ters that I am sure there must have 
been some reason for this course which 
does not readily appear. 

His first efforts were directed to the 
work of becoming master of the Chinese 
language. Yong-Sam had not yet ar- 



10 ROBERT MORRISON. 

rived in the country. Sir George Staun- 
ton, an English friend, procured for him 
as a teacher one Abel-Yun, a Roman 
Catholic Chinese, from Pekin. He was 
also aided somewhat by another .young 
Chinese, by the name of Le-Seensang. 

Besides acquiring the Chinese lan- 
guage as fast as possible, as well as to 
aid him in this very process, he engaged 
in translating a Latin- Chinese Diction- 
ary, which he carried out with him. 
The work seems to have been very 
laborious, and not a little difficult. 

His correspondence, moreover, was 
no trifle. To his friends in England 
alone he wrote, during his voyage out 
to China, no less than seventy-five let- 
ters ! The man that would do this 
would be likely to write letters in other 
circumstances, as well as to other 
people. 



ARRIVAL AT CANTON. 71 

His righteous soul, like that of Lot in 
olden time, was vexed at the ungodli- 
ness which he found in Canton, even 
among those of whom he had hoped 
better things. Le-Seensang informed 
him that the Christians in Canton — Ro- 
man Catholics I suppose — were accus- 
tomed to do business on the Lord's day 
as much as on any other. 

He was sorely tried, too, with the ex- 
travagant living of the English Chris- 
tians in Canton. One reason he had 
for obtaining a place in the American 
factory was that he might escape this. 
" It would be impossible," said he, " for 
me to dwell amid the princely grandeur 
of the English who reside here." 

Of course, he was tried with the 
abominations of idolatry ; but for this 
he was in some measure prepared. 
Their splendid illuminations to their de- 



12 ROBERT MORRISON. 

mons — their theatrical performances in 
presence of their idols — their repasts of 
fruits, wine, cakes, fowls, roasted pigs, 
&c, placed before them — together with 
the burning of small sticks, paper, can- 
dles, fire-works, &c. — were as disgust- 
ing to him as they were ridiculous. 

Something had been said, prior to his 
arrival at Canton, and perhaps subse- 
quently, about sending out another mis- 
sionary to Canton. "A doctor," said 
he, "is the best character to pass un- 
noticed by the Chinese at Canton. 
Doctors come in vessels — doctors are 
necessary at the factories." Dr. Parker, 
the American missionary, has had some 
experience of this during the last twenty 
years, and has done much good, as well 
as other medical missionaries. I 

Mr. Morrison felt most lonely on 
Sundays. Several times, in his letters 



ARRIVAL AT CANTON. IS 

and journals, he alludes to their loss. 
The following is as apt a quotation as 
any I can make : — 

" To-day [it was Sunday, September 
27] I confine myself entirely to my 
room. In the forenoon, and also in the 
afternoon, I sing a psalm or hymn, as in 
public worship; pray and sing again. 
Instead of hearing or preaching a ser- 
mon, I read the Scriptures. Without 
seeking some variety my mind would 
grow fatigued." 

During his whole residence at Canton 
he was annoyed by the disposition among 
the Chinese to take advantage of him in 
all pecuniary matters. They contrived 
always to get as high prices for every- 
thing as they could ; and in one instance, 
as he said, they cheated him out of 
thirty dollars directly. 

In January, 1808, he tried to get up 



74 ROBERT MORRISON. 

a religious meeting at his own room. 
His purpose was to invite, by note, 
three or four Americans whom he knew. 
But the one to whom he addressed the 
first note told him he thought it would 
not be agreeable to them. He there- 
fore gave it up, after reading and pray- 
ing with the individual who had come 
in. 

During the spring of this year his 
health failed. Without seeming to be 
affected by any particular disease except 
debility, he became so weak as to be 
unable to walk across his room. The 
causes were various. Climate no doubt 
had something to do with it; but his 
unremitting application to study, with- 
out sufficient air and exercise, was 
much more influential, and his mental 
anxiety and trials still more so. 

A physician was consulted, and it 



ARRIVAL AT CANTON. *75 

was at length decided that he should 
remove, for a season, to Macao. 

Through the kindness of Dr. Pearson, 
whom as his physician he consulted, 
and other friends, he was at length on 
his road from Canton to Macao. 



76 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTEE X. 

HE RESIDES AT MACAO. 

On the first day of June, 1808, he em- 
harked for Macao. The distance of 
Macao from Canton is something less 
than one hundred miles. It is a small 
island, belonging to the Portuguese, and 
containing from forty to fifty thousand 
inhabitants. 

Here, in a very short time, his health 
began to improve, and he resumed his 
old employments of translating the Chi- 
nese language, studying it, &c. Mean- 
while his old friend Yong-Sam-Tak had 
arrived from England, and he was glad 
to avail himself of his services from time 
to time, as he found those services con- 
venient or necessary. 



HE RESIDES AT MACAO. 11 

It has been seen that he went out to 
China unmarried. We have also seen 
that he suffered much from loneliness 
and depression of spirits. In the begin- 
ning of the year 1809, being a resident 
in the family of a Dr. Morton, an Irish 
gentleman at Macao, he became very 
much attached to Miss Morton, the 
eldest daughter. The family were ami- 
able and excellent people, and some of 
them religious. 

Under the influence of Mr. Morrison, 
the daughter became decidedly pious. 
This fact no doubt laid the foundation 
for that esteem of which I have spoken. 
It ripened into a friendship of the high- 
est order. They were married February 
20, 1809. 

Another circumstance, though of less 
importance than the foregoing, deserves 
to be mentioned. On the very day of 



?8 ROBERT MORRISON. 

his marriage, the East India Company's 
factory at Canton offered him a salary 
of two thousand five hundred dollars a 
year, to serve them as their translator. 
He could not hesitate about accepting 
their generous offer ; for, though it would 
employ a portion of his valuable time, 
yet it would be employing it in a way 
which would tend to make him more 
and more familiar with the Chinese lan- 
guage ; and this, to him, as a pioneer in 
the work of missions, was a highly im- 
portant object. Besides, as he was not 
yet permitted to preach, he must be 
content to do what he could in the 
mean time: and when Divine Provi- 
dence should open a door to greater 
usefulness he could resign his secular 
office for one to which he would then be 
prepared so much the better to apply 
himself. 



HE RESIDES AT MACAO. 79 

It was indeed rumored in England, 
soon afterward, that he had given up his 
missionary labors, and betaken himself 
to other employments ; but the mistake 
was corrected in due time, and the 
truth became so fully understood that 
no permanent blame ever attached to 
him. 

There was indeed one danger to be ap- 
prehended, — a danger, however, which, 
in his zeal, he was apt to lose sight 
of, — that of breaking down his health. 
The almost constant confinement to 
which his employments subjected him 
left him little time for exercise, and 
still less of disposition to avail himself 
of what time he had. Then the cli- 
mate was unfavorable to him, in some 
of its aspects and features. True, he 
was pretty abstemious; but temperate 
men need exercise. 



80 ROBERT MORRISON. 

Having entered into the service of 
the East India Company, he was under 
the necessity of spending a consider- 
able portion of his time at Canton, 
whither, however, he did not think it 
best to remove his family. 

His health was better than it had 
been before he went to Macao; and 
yet it was by no means as good as 
it had been before he left England. 
No man so devoted to literary pursuits, 
and so neglectful of exercise, could be 
healthy. 

And yet, in saying he neglected to 
use proper exercise, perhaps I use too 
harsh a term. So far as walking 
abroad in the open air was necessary 
or useful to his health, he seems to 
have been deprived very largely of the 
opportunity by his circumstances. It 
was desirable, as he thought, to shun 



HE RESIDES AT MACAO. 81 

observation, particularly in Macao. It 
was said of him that he never walked 
out in that city, for a long time after 
his arrival there, except once in the 
night, and then he was under the es- 
cort of two Chinese. 



82 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTEE XL 

DOMESTIC AFFLICTIONS. 

Good men are tried in a great many 
different ways. It was so, of course, 
with Mr. Morrison ; but, in addition to 
his numerous other trials, to some of 
which I have adverted, a new one was 
now added, of a very different kind 
from any to which he had ever before 
been subject. 

It is not stated that Mrs. Morrison's 
health was not as good as that of the 
average of her sex till after their mar- 
riage ; but now, toward the end of the 
year 1809, when they had scarcely 
been married a year, Mrs. Morrison be- 
gan to suffer very greatly from chronic 
disease. As Mr. Morrison was obliged 



DOMESTIC AFFLICTIONS. 83 

to be in Canton about half the time, her 
circumstances became to him a source 
of much painful anxiety and not a little 
trouble ; so that while by marriage he 
sought for mental quiet, he had seemed 
to remove himself further from it than 
before. 

In his letters written during the 
years 1809 and 1810, he speaks often 
of the ill health of his wife, as a source 
of much anxiety to him : " It would be 
all easy," says he, on a certain occasion, 
" were Mary well." In another instance 
he goes a little more into particulars : 
"A nervous disease," says he, " strongly 
agitates body and mind." 

To add to Mrs. Morrison's troubles, 
as well as those of her husband, her 
relatives, as it would seem, returned 
about this time to Europe. 

It may serve to show the reader the 



84 ROBERT MORRISON. 

nature of some of his trials, in connec- 
tion with his wife's ill health, to say 
that while he was at Canton, from time 
to time, and she ill at Macao, he would 
be often summoned home so suddenly 
that he was glad to be transported al- 
most one hundred miles in the first 
native boat he could procure, not only 
at considerable expense, but at the haz- 
ard of being taken up by the officers of 
the government. 

About this time he lost a child. Here 
w r as a new trial. There was even a trial 
about the burial : the Chinese, at first, 
refused to let them bury the child at all 
in Macao ; but it was at length permit- 
ted. It was buried on a hill top, at the 
northern extremity of the city. In gen- 
eral the Chinese bury their dead on the 
sides of hills — they have no cemeteries. 

In January, 1812, he says: "My 



DOMESTIC AFFLICTIONS. 85 

beloved Mary is still subject to her for- 
mer nervous complaint, and I fear will 
be always so." 

In October 19, of the same year, he 
says : " My poor dear Mary is occasion- 
ally much afflicted." It seems she had 
again become a mother ; for he says : 
" The Lord be gracious to her, and bless 
her and the little babe, for Jesus's 
sake." 

In January, 1815, Mrs. Morrison's 
health still continuing to be bad, a sea 
voyage and a change of climate were 
recommended to her. On much reflec- 
tion, it was concluded to have her go to 
England. She set sail, with two chil- 
dren, on the 21st of January. 

This was another sore trial for Mr. 
Morrison, as it left him to pursue his 
work alone for six years. However, 
her health was, in the end, improved by 



86 ROBERT MORRISON. 

her voyage. She sailed, on her return 
to China, April 23, 1820, and in due 
time arrived at Macao. She did not, 
however, survive the birth of her third " 
child. 

Her remains were buried under the 
town wall ; for the stupid Chinese would 
not let him deposit them on the hill, 
near those of his child. 

What now should he do with his two 
children? This was a very important 
question. " My son John, if God spare 
us both, I mean," said he, " to bring up 
as a Chinese scholar." He resolved to 
take him with him to Canton. Respect- 
ing his daughter, he added, " I wish she 
could be serviceable to the heathen." 
They were, however, subsequently sent 
to England, and placed at school there. 

It should have been stated before 
now, that Mr. Morrison's troubles, both 



DOMESTIC AFFLICTIONS. Si 

at Canton and Macao, were greatly in- 
creased by political difficulties, which, 
about this period, sometimes amounted 
almost to open war. In one instance 
nearly every Englishman, unless it were 
Mr. Morrison himself, deemed it essen- 
tial for a short time to leave Canton. 
In time, however, this tumultuous state 
of things partly subsided, and he had no 
serious difficulties left him but such as 
arose from his own headaches and other 
illnesses, and the troubles and trials 
w r hich inevitably grew out of his con- 
dition. 



88 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HIS LABORS AS A MISSIONARY. 

It has been mentioned already that Mr. 
Morrison was obliged, with a single ex- 
ception, to hold his meetings on the 
Sabbath by himself, however much, for 
the sake of his own personal improve- 
ment and growth in grace, he regretted it. 
We find, however, from his journal of 
June 19, 1808, — which was Sunday, 
— that he was able to collect a few to- 
gether at Macao, to hear him read. 
"My people," he says, — by which I 
suppose he means his Chinese teachers 
and his domestics, — "remained with me 
part of the day, and we read." But 
they deserted him in the afternoon ; 
and so they did the next Sabbath. On 



HIS LABORS AS A MISSIONARY. 89 

July 3 he thus writes : " My Chinese 
remained with me all the day, and read, 
which added to my comfort. I can 
speak to them, in a stammering way, 
of the truths of the Gospel, without 
seeing yet, however, any effect : truths 
which are the joy of my heart, excite 
in them a smile. This, though to be 
expected, gives me pain." 

July 10 he had another opportunity 
of a similar kind. But on July 17 he 
asked one of his " people" to read with 
him, upon which he absented himself 
four hours ! In the evening, as he 
adds, one of them drank wine, and an- 
other quarreled and fought! How lit- 
tle do we know of missionary trials in 
those days, especially in China ! 

Again, however, we find him securing 
their attention. Two instances of the 
kind are mentioned during the month 



90 ROBERT MORRISON. 

of September. On another Lord's day 
he gave away tracts to some black men, 
as he calls them — Africans I suppose 
they were. 

Again, November 6 — the Sabbath — 
one of his domestics was with him. 

November 13 he says, " Mr. Morton's 
family was with me the whole day." 
This must have been cheering. 

In the year 1809 he had made some 
further advances. On the 8th of June, 
at Macao, he commemorated the death 
of Christ in the usual way ; on which 
occasion Miss Morton, who became soon 
after his wife, was present, and made a 
profession of her faith. Others were 
present. He explained to them the 
nature of the Lord's supper. Again, 
several weeks later, he says, " Partook 
of the Lord's supper with Miss Morton 
and family." 



HIS LABORS AS A MISSIONARY. 91 

On several Sabbaths of October, 1812, 
we find him preaching to his ]5teople, as 
he calls them ; and sometimes he speaks 
of their being very attentive. One of 
them asked him to teach him to pray. 
He speaks of four being present to hear 
him on the 18th of October. This, to 
him, must have been quite an audi- 
ence ! 

Early in the year 1813 we find him 
preaching, almost every Lord's day, to 
a small number. April 11th he says : 
" There were present only Low-Heen, 
A-Fo, A-Pan, A-Sam, and A-Chin." But 
this small number of five persons was 
better than naked walls. The next 
Sabbath he had six hearers. May 9th 
he had ten hearers. 

On the 4th of July, 1813, he was 
joined at Macao by the Rev. Mr. Milne 
and his family, who were sent out from 



92 ROBERT MORRISON. 

England by the same society that 
sent Mr. Morrison. This, of course, 
was cheering. Mr. Milne had been long 
expected. 

From this time forth he was able, for 
the most part, to speak to a greater or 
smaller number of persons as often as 
the Lord's day recurred, both in Canton 
and Macao. Mr. Milne also, before the 
close of the year, is spoken of as preach- 
ing to a few Europeans. 

December 12th Mr. Morrison thus 
writes, but I do not know whether 
from Canton or Macao : " Had nine per- 
sons at the time of worship. Brother 
Milne sends his two domestics. K6- 
seen-sang read the chapter. I have 
here three boys who learn the catechism 
daily." 

In 1822 such advances had been 
made that divine service on the Lord's 



HIS LABORS AS A MISSIONARY. 93 

day was regularly kept up, either in 
Macao or Canton — I believe in the for- 
mer. Such was the slow but certain 
progress of the truth at its first intro- 
duction to China. 



94 KOBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HIS EDUCATIONAL LABORS. 

In 1817 Mr. Morrison accompanied a 
British embassy to Pekin — partly for the 
benefit of his health. He came back 
much recruited, and resumed his former 
duties and labors. During this journey, 
and even earlier than this, his mind as 
well as that of Mr. Milne had been di- 
rected to the establishment of a monthly 
magazine; and as Mr. Milne, in the 
same year and the following, was en- 
gaged in connection with a printing 
press at Malacca, it was thought to be 
a favorable time for prosecuting their 
proposed plan for a periodical. 

A monthly magazine, under the di- 
rection of Mr. Morrison and Mr. Milne, 



HIS EDUCATIONAL LABORS. 95 

was therefore established in Malacca, in 
1818 ; and soon after a quarterly, called 
the Gleaner. At the same time Mr. 
Morrison most strenuously urged the 
importance of sending out agents quali- 
fied to write and print books which 
would tend to counteract the baneful 
tendency of the popular literature of 
China. He set an example of this, it is 
said, by employing two presses, at his 
own expense, for that purpose. 

In the year 1817 the University of 
Glasgow, in Scotland, in consequence of 
certain books he had published and was 
publishing, gave him the title of Doctor 
of Divinity. 

Not far from this time, as it appears, 
some benevolent individual contributed 
four thousand dollars, to be devoted to 
a building of certain dimensions, to be 
erected at Malacca, and to be called the 



96 ROBERT MORRISON. 

Anglo-Chinese College; the main pur- 
pose of which should be the cultivation 
of the Chinese language. Dr. Morrison 
took a deep interest in this matter, and 
appropriated out of his small property, 
toward the building, several thousand 
dollars, besides five hundred dollars a 
year toward its funds ; and, in addition 
to all this, made very valuable presents 
of books to the library. This most cer- 
tainly manifested zeal in the cause of 
education, and a disinterestedness which, 
though properly becoming a missionary, 
was hardly to be expected. 

But he went still further in his liber- 
ality. He drew up, with much care, and 
after long reflection and much study, a 
general plan for the proposed college, 
which appears to have been in the high- 
est degree acceptable ; for no sooner was 
the plan made known, and a circular sent 



HIS EDUCATIONAL LABORS. 97 

round, than two thousand five hundred 
dollars were subscribed to it in Canton 
alone. The London Missionary Society 
also made a grant to it of two thousand 
five hundred dollars. 

Dr. Morrison was, however, greatly 
aided in this scheme by the Rev. Mr. 
Milne. 

At a still later period, when the ex- 
istence of an Anglo-Chinese college could 
no longer be considered as problematical, 
Dr. Morrison appropriated two thousand 
five hundred dollars to the funds of the 
college — making, in all, a benefaction of 
five thousand dollars to the institution, 
besides five hundred dollars a year, to 
defray, in part, its current expenses. 



98 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

HIS GREAT WORK AS A PIONEER. 

In a former chapter I have alluded to 
some of those things which are generally 
supposed to belong particularly to the 
missionary's province, namely, preaching, 
visiting, &c. But all his labors — cer- 
tainly all, except his translations for the 
East India Company — were missionary 
labors; and they were, as we have al- 
ready seen, neither few nor small. One 
would be apt to think he had already 
done enough for any living man, but he 
felt as though his labors were hardly 
begun. 

It is truly surprising how much can 
be crowded into the life of one man ! 
And perhaps Dr. Morrison was reserved 



HIS WORK AS A PIONEER. 99 

by Heaven — among other blessings con- 
ferred upon his race — to stand before 
the world, as in this respect, one of its 
brightest and most enviable examples. 

The literary labors of Dr. Morrison 
have, I believe, attracted most attention ; 
and they are certainly wonderful — per- 
haps, considering the time he labored, 
not surpassed by any individual of an- 
cient or modern times. Dr. Cotton 
Mather may have written more volumes, 
but he lived and labored much longer. 
And, in later times, Peter Parley and 
Jacob Abbott may have also written 
more ; but one thousand pages of some 
of their productions have scarcely re- 
quired the toil of one hundred of Dr. 
Morrison's. 

His Chinese Dictionary alone is a 
monument of his patience and perse- 
verance that must stand forever ! It 



100 ROBERT MORRISON. 

consisted of three parts. The first part 
is in three quarto volumes, comprising 
two thousand seven hundred and twenty- 
two pages, on an average of more than 
nine hundred pages a volume. - The 
number of Chinese characters explained 
is about forty thousand. The second 
part is in two volumes. It contains 
twelve thousand six hundred and eighty 
symbols, indicated by four hundred and 
eleven monosyllables. The third part 
is a volume of about five hundred quarto 
pages, containing English words and 
phrases rendered into Chinese, and sun- 
dry other useful matter. 

Next comes his great work, the trans- 
lation of the Scriptures into Chinese. 
Eliot, the Indian apostle, has been 
looked upon as nearly equivalent to the 
eighth wonder of the world, because he 
translated the Bible into the dialect of 



HIS WORK AS A PIONEER. 101 

the native Indians of Massachusetts; 
but, Herculean as his task may have 
been, is it for a moment to be compared 
with the tediousness of translating the 
Bible into Chinese ? 

I cannot describe this mighty work. 
I did not intend to do it. If any reader 
is curious to see it, he must call at the 
Library of the American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions ; or at 
some of our libraries connected with 
colleges or theological seminaries, where 
it will doubtless be preserved, as Eliot's 
Indian Bible is, as a literary curiosity. 
He will at least find it at the library of 
Harvard University. 

He wrote also a Chinese Grammar, 
consisting of nearly three hundred quarto 
pages, which doubtless cost him a vast 
amount of labor ; but it is not easy to 
describe it. 



102 ROBERT MORRISON. 

"A View of China, for Philological 
Purposes/' is spoken of as a work of 
merit. It treats of chronology, govern- 
ment, geography, time, festivals, and re- 
ligion. It is certainly curious, at least, 
to the antiquarian. It is a work of one 
hundred and forty-one quarto pages. 

One of his works 'was entitled, "A 
Vocabulary of the Canton Dialect." It 
is in three parts, and is at once curious 
and useful. 

" The Chinese Miscellany " was pub- 
lished by Dr. Morrison while he was in 
England, on a visit, a few years before 
he died. It contained much information, 
of a popular kind, on the language, lit- 
erature, and character of the Chinese; 
but does not seem to have attracted so 
much attention as his more laborious 
works. 

The Liturgy of the Church of En- 



HIS WORK AS A PIONEER. 103 

gland was also translated by Dr. Morri- 
son into Chinese. It is well spoken of, 
and had, in its day, a very considerable 
circulation in the East. 

I have alluded to his visit to England 
already. While there, a volume of Dia- 
logues, Chinese and English, which had 
been prepared before he left China, was 
printed by an individual connected with 
the British Factory at Canton ; but I 
have seen no particular account of it. 

In one of his letters to a friend, dated 
Canton, 1808, he mentions a brief out- 
line of Christianity which he had drawn 
up in the form of a catechism ; but it 
does not appear to have been a work of 
much toil. It was written rather as an 
amusement, or as a relief from severer 
labors. 

A Chinese tract is mentioned in one 
of his letters to his brother, written about 



104 ROBERT MORRISON. 

the year 1811, of which he had a thou- 
sand copies printed at his own expense. 

About the year 1812 he translated 
and sent to England some specimens of 
Chinese literature, taken from the- max- 
ims of Confucius and the History of Foe, 
the deified literati of China. They were 
printed in England, but were mere chil- 
dren's books. 

According to an intimation thrown 
out in his biography, he wrote, at full 
length, a journal of a visit to Pekin, in 
company with a British embassy, in the 
summer of 1816, which was published 
in England, and the avails of it given 
for the support of a poor family. 

He wrote, with the aid of the Rev. 
Mr. Milne, a " Retrospect of the First 
Ten Years of the Protestant Mission to 
China." It was published, I believe, at 
Malacca. This was in the year 1817. 



HIS WORK AS A PIONEER. 105 

Another work, the "Horse Sinicoe," is 
mentioned, but I have seen no particu- 
lar description of it. 

In 1819, or perhaps a year or two 
before, Dr. Morrison drew up and pub- 
lished a little book, called, "A Voyage 
Round the World." It was designed to 
enlarge the minds of the lower classes 
of the Chinese, in respect to the world 
and its inhabitants generally, and to in- 
troduce among them some of the essen- 
tials of Christianity. Connected with 
it was a map, on which he very ingen- 
iously contrived to make prominent the 
birthplace and residence of the Sav- 
iour. 

Another small treatise appeared about 
the same time with the latter. It was 
called, "'Detached Remarks, intended 
to settle the Phraseology used in Chi- 
nese Discourse : and to contrast the 



106 ROBERT MORRISON. 

Principles of the Budh, Mohammedan, 
and Confucian sects with those of true 
Religion." 

In a letter, written Feb. 26, 1832, 
he speaks of his " Domestic Instructor," 
and also of his " Scripture Lessons," as 
works of practical importance. He says 
they "afford a historical, doctrinal, and 
practical view of our holy religion." 
The latter does not seem to have been 
much more than a mere tract, and yet 
it cost him labor. The Domestic In- 
structor was extended to four octavo 
volumes. 

A little work, called his "Parting 
Memorial," was written, it appears, on 
leaving England the last time, and pub- 
lished in that country. It had a slight 
resemblance, as I suppose, to our modern 
annuals, only it was entirely a mission- 
ary work. 



HIS WORK AS A PIONEER. 107 

I have mentioned in another place his 
contributions to sundry periodicals at 
Malacca, got up by him and Mr. Milne. 
Then he contributed largely to two Can- 
ton papers — the Canton Register and 
the Chinese Repository. Besides all 
these he published a sort of quarto peri- 
odical which he called the "Evangelist 
and Miscellanea Sinica," and quite a 
number of tracts of various kinds and 
sizes, and printed some of his sermons 
and other public documents. 

And lastly, — for I will not proceed to 
notice more of his labors as a pioneer to 
missions, — he was employed a good deal, 
toward the close of his life, on a work 
which he w r as accustomed to call his 
great work, and which appears to have 
been essentially a Commentary, in Chi- 
nese, on the Bible; but he did not 
live to finish it. It was begun in 



JOS ROBERT MORRISON*. 

1826, and he only lived eight years 
after that. 

I have thus finished my detail of what 
he himself justly regarded as his great 
work, as a pioneer to the missionary 
enterprise. He did not expect to do 
much in the way of preaching ; and he 
was, in this respect, truly wise. There 
were not wanting, however, those who 
smiled at the idea of converting the 
heathen by means of books, tracts, and 
papers : among them was his venerable 
instructor, Dr. Bogue, of Gosport. His 
reply was as follows : — 

" Our venerable friend Dr. Bogue 
seems to underrate books as a means 
of converting heathen nations. I see 
no occasion for this jealousy. Our Sav- 
iour uses, I think, various means. Mis- 
sionaries, and books, and colleges also 
are useful ; though none of the means 



HIS WORK AS A PIONEER. 109 

of salvation are without their defects. 
Books lie unheeded — missionaries be- 
come careless or immoral — colleges de- 
generate — where is there perfection on 
earth ? 



110 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTEE XY. 

OTHER COLLATERAL LABORS. 

Few people have anything like a correct 
idea of the vast amount of letter- writing 
which often devolves upon public men, 
especially those who are situated as Dr. 
Morrison was. President Fisk, of the 
Wesley an University in Connecticut, for 
example, received and answered no less 
than seven hundred and twenty-five let- 
ters in the course of about two years of 
his public life. This was an average of 
more than two a day, Sundays ex- 
cluded. 

There are no data from which we can 
form anything like a tolerable estimate 
of the number of letters Dr. Morrison 
wrote. I have already alluded to the 



OTHER COLLATERAL LABORS. Ill 

fact of his writing a very large number 
when on his first voyage out to China, 
but this was in circumstances very dif- 
ferent from those of his subsequent life. 
There is, however, one fact more which 
may be interesting. In a letter to one 
of his British friends, written only a few 
days more than a year after his arrival 
in Canton, he says, "I yesterday re- 
ceived your very welcome letter. It is 
but the second that I have received, 
after having written at least two hun- 
dred." 

Now these letters of missionaries are 
not apt to be short : sometimes they 
cover at least two sheets. But suppose 
two hundred letters to average four 
pages only ; here, in these eight hundred 
pages of Dr. Morrison's, was material for 
several large volumes, had they been 
printed. 



112 ROBERT MORRISON. 

His translations for the East India 
Company, together with his other la- 
bors for that society, were numerous, ex- 
tensive, and toilsome. A task for which 
such a company should be willing to pay 
a large salary, as a mere matter of busi- 
ness, could not have been light. 

Another thing which Dr. Morrison 
did, worthy of being mentioned among 
his collateral labors, was the establish- 
ment of a medical dispensary for the 
benevolent treatment of Chinese invalids. 
This was in the year 1820. Dr. Mor- 
rison expended on this institution a vast 
deal of money. He purchased for it a 
Chinese medical library of over eight 
hundred volumes. It was said by com- 
petent judges to be useful. Three hun- 
dred patients, in one instance, are 
mentioned as having been cured in a 
very few months. 



OTHER COLLATERAL LABORS. 113 

His efforts to establish a college — with 
the aid of Mr. Milne — at Malacca have 
been mentioned. An attempt was made 
to establish a similar institution at Sin- 
gapore, toward which Dr. Morrison gave 
much time and labor, besides subscribing 
one thousand five hundred dollars, and 
aiding in the purchase of a piece of land 
for the college ; but it ultimately failed, 
and the labor and money were lost. 

He appears to have been active and 
influential in forming, at Canton, about 
the year 1828, a museum. It included 
not only the productions of nature, but 
those also of art. It was called the 
British Museum. 

A library of Chinese books, procured 
at an expense of not less than ten thou- 
sand dollars, was also collected by Dr. 
Morrison, and carried to England, with 
the intention of presenting it to any 



114 EGBERT MORRISON. 

college or university there that would 
institute a professorship of the Chinese 
language. I do not learn that his offer 
was ever accepted, but the books re- 
mained in England. 

Some of his books were published at 
his own expense. For one in particular, 
the Domestic Instructor, he paid out 
one thousand dollars. How far this 
money was made up to him by sales 
does not appear. The London Mission- 
ary Society, in general, were liberal with 
him ; but sometimes they appear to have 
acted in a manner somewhat different 
from what he had expected. 

It may be surprising to many how he 
could obtain so much money to expend ; 
for we have seen that for three or four 
objects alone — the colleges at Malacca 
and Singapore, the medical institution 
and library, and the library he took out 



OTHER COLLATERAL LABORS. 115 

to England — he expended about twenty 
thousand dollars. 

But we must remember his large 
salary from the British Factory. This it 
was that enabled him, besides sustaining 
a large family, in sickness and health, 
at home, at school, and in traveling 
abroad, to give away so much. He re- 
ceived from two thousand five hundred 
to five thousand dollars a year for many 
years ; and at the close of his life they 
were about to employ him for another 
three years at six thousand five hundred 
dollars a year Dr. Morrison was one 
of those who, if they obtain money, 
are sure to scatter and not to hoard it. 
At his death he bequeathed the sum 
of one thousand dollars, to be disposed 
of by the British East India Company 
for religious purposes. 



116 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DR. MORRISON'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 

After having spent sixteen years in 
China, and been subjected to trials al- 
most innumerable, especially the toils 
and exhaustion of translating and pre- 
paring books, Dr. Morrison found it 
necessary for health, as well as for other 
purposes, that he should make a voyage 
to England. 

His two children, it would seem, had 
been sent thither already, and placed at 
school, under the general care of his 
brother, Mr. James Morrison. His ob- 
ject still was to fit them to be useful to 
the missionary cause in China — the land 
he had adopted. 

He sailed from Canton in December, 



HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 117 

1823, and arrived in England in March, 

1824. He hastened, as soon as circum- 
stances would permit, to see his children 
and his relatives at Newcastle, and to 
indulge himself once more, for a very 
short time, in traversing the streets with 
which " a poor bashful boy," as he calls 
himself, had been so familiar thirty years 
before. His son, whom as well as his 
daughter he found well, was now fifteen 
or sixteen years of age. 

After visiting his friends, he returned 
to London early in May, to be present 
at the anniversary meetings of that me- 
tropolis. He took his son with him, 
that he might interest him still more, 
if possible, in the great work to which 
he had in his heart dedicated him. 

During the remainder of the year he 
visited France, Ireland, Scotland, and 
the principal towns of England; and 



118 EGBERT MORRISON. 

endeavored to awaken a public interest 
in foreign missions, especially the mis- 
sion to China. I have only room to say 
that he was everywhere kindly and even 
warmly received. 

In November, 1824, he was again 
married; and in December he went, 
with his wife, to spend the winter in 
London. His children were at the 
same time removed from school in Lan- 
cashire, and made members once more 
of his family. 

While in London, at this time he was 
instrumental in the formation of what 
was called a "Language Institution;" 
the object of which was the cultivation 
of human languages generally. To this 
society he granted the use of his Chinese 
library and museum. He also, for three 
months, gave lectures to the society. 
Several of the hearers of the lectures 



HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 119 

became, in the end, foreign mission- 
aries. 

The next spring — that of 1825 — he 
removed to the village of Hackney, near 
London. A part of his time was spent 
in traveling, and a part in literary labors. 
Such a man, we may be assured, could 
not have been otherwise than usefully 
employed. 

He set sail for China May 1st, 1826, 
taking with him his wife and children. 
Their passage was not slow ; they ar- 
rived at Singapore in one hundred and 
twelve days. Here they staid about a 
fortnight. 

One incident of the voyage is suffi- 
ciently remarkable to be recorded. When 
they were in the Indian Ocean, within 
a few days' sail of the islands of Java 
and Sumatra, a mutiny arose in the 
vessel. At first the number of the 



120 EGBERT MORRISON. 

mutineers was small. They simply 
banded themselves together, and took 
an oath, on the Bible, to stand by each 
other to resist oppression. Whether 
they had been really oppressed by the 
captain and other officers I do not 
know. 

The mutineers were greatly exasper- 
ated, and their numbers were increasing. 
They had assembled in the forecastle, 
and were at length the strongest party. 
The captain and officers began to think 
of loading their pistols, and, with them 
and the other arms, attempting to dis- 
lodge the mutineers. But they defied 
all their threats, and refused to accept 
any conditions but such as they them- 
selves proposed. 

The captain was alarmed, as well he 
might be, and so were the passengers. 
The mutineers had declared that if but a 



HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 121 

single pistol was fired at them, they 
would draw their knives and rush at 
once on the officers. They talked, also, 
of turning two of the guns upon Dr. 
Morrison and his family, and the rest 
of the passengers : and what they did 
not kill they said they would sell to the 
Malays as slaves. 

In this hour and moment of severe 
trial the captain appealed to Dr. Morri- 
son, and begged him to go to the fore- 
castle, and try to reason with them — 
promising that if they would return to 
duty they should not be hurt. 

The friends of Dr. Morrison cried out 
at once, and entreated him not to expose 
himself to such imminent danger ; but 
he went, and succeeded in securing their 
attention entirely for some time. 

It was not long before he had the 
satisfaction of seeing them all go peace- 



122 ROBERT MORRISON". 

fully to their work, except the ring- 
leader. He was not convinced. He 
still threatened, and held up a weapon 
of attack; upon which he was seized, 
tied up, and flogged. Two or ihree 
others, who came to his rescue, were 
treated in the same manner; and two 
or three were put in irons. 

It was surprising to observe how 
much power the reasoning of Dr. Mor- 
rison had. He was, no doubt, the in- 
strument of their preservation from 
destruction. But the doctor was greatly 
pained to see the malcontents punished 
— so contrary to what they expected 
from his assurances. It was the cap- 
tain's error : he had authorized Dr. Mor- 
rison to promise them that they should 
not be touched if they gave up at once ; 
and Dr. Morrison could not control the 
captain. 



HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 123 

I spoke of the arrival and rest of Dr. 
Morrison and his family at Singapore. 
From thence they went to Macao, 
September 5, and arrived there Septem- 
ber 19, all in tolerable health. Dr. 
Morrison had suffered most during the 
passage ; but his suffering arose chiefly 
from his too close and too constant ap- 
plication to study ; for he had his study 
hours and his general system, and work- 
ed just as hard while at sea as while at 
home on the land. 

Arrived now at his former residence, 
he found that an absence of two years 
had made great changes. Everything 
appeared to be in a state of dilapidation. 
Above all, and what was the severest 
loss of all, his books were also nearlv 
destroyed by the white ants and other 
troublesome insects peculiar to those re- 
gions. His house and grounds could be 



124 ROBERT MORRISON. 

repaired, but of his ability to replace his 
library there was room for doubt. How- 
ever, he had lived long enough to know 
the truth of that philosophy, which 
everybody admits, whether or not they 
practice accordingly, that a what cannot 
be cured must be endured." 

Dr. Morrison's family, subsequently 
to his return from England to China 
with his second wife, continued to re- 
side at Macao as before, with the excep- 
tion of his eldest son, who was chiefly 
with him at Canton. There were three 
younger children born to him after his 
return, all of whom went to England, a 
few months before his death, with their 
mother. 

It will let the reader into the charac- 
ter of Dr. Morrison a little more fully, 
perhaps, if, in closing this chapter, I 
quote from a page of his journal, written 



HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 125 

soon after his return from England. I 
will not say that Dr. Morrison related 
the anecdote because he was deeply in- 
terested in its philosophy and good sense, 
and yet I suppose it was so. 

" I met, this morning, with this little 
Chinese story. Hooshaou was a very 
poor man, yet he daily thanked Heaven 
for pure bliss. i What do you call pure 
bliss ? ' said his wife to him one day. 
'We have nothing but our three daily 
meals of greens, rice, and water/ He 
replied, ' Happily we live in times of 
peace, and suffer none of the miseries 
which arise from conflicting armies ; hap- 
pily no one of our family suffers from 
hunger and cold; and happily none of 
us are laid on a bed of sickness, or im- 
mured in a prison. If this be not pure 
bliss, I know not what is.' " 



126 ROBERT MORRISON. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

HIS SICKNESS AND DEATH. 

The final departure of Dr. Morrison to 
the spirit-land was rather sudden. True, 
he had received, from time to time, many 
warnings; but he was, so far as the 
mere number of years of a man's life is 
concerned, in the very midst of his use- 
fulness ; and was laying out and prose- 
cuting his plans of public good, just as 
he had been when younger. 

On the 16th of July, 1834, only a 
fortnight before he died, he thus wrote 
in his journal : — 

" I am to be styled c Chinese secre- 
tary and interpreter/ and to have one 
thousand three hundred pounds a year. 
I am to wear a vice-consul's coat, with 



HIS SICKNESS AND DEATH. 127 

king's buttons, when I can • get one ! 
His lordship Lineariing Lord Napier] 
asked whether I accepted the appoint- 
ment or not. I told him at once that I 
did. He then said he would forthwith 
make out my commission. Pray for 
me, [here he seems to be addressing 
his wife,] that I may be faithful to my 
blessed Saviour in the new place I have 
to occupy. It is rather an anomalous 
one for a missionary — a vice-consul's 
uniform instead of a preaching gown ! 
People congratulate me : they view it, 
I believe, as a provision for my family, 
and in that sense congratulate me ; but 
man, at his best estate, is altogether 
vanity." 

A week later, which was just a week 
before his death, he started for Canton. 
While on his journey he was obliged to 
remain all night in an open boat, ex- 



128 ROBERT MORRISON. 

posed to the heat and a storm of rain ; 
and on his arrival in Canton he was 
subjected to considerable anxiety of 
mind, which was followed by his usual 
terrible headache, and great debility. 
And, to add to the other evil tenden- 
cies, on the 25th he says, " In walking 
through the hot sun to-day, from this 
house to the company's, — where Lord 
Napier is, — I was likely to drop in the 
streets, and have been groaning on my 
couch ever since." 

The next day his duties were anx- 
ious and laborious. Then followed a 
Sabbath, which to every minister is more 
or less exhausting, and Dr. Morrison did 
not spare himself on that day. 

Next day was, as his journal says, 
"a tiresome day." But his weakness 
and pain increased. His son John was 
now with him, but the rest of his family 







DE. MORRISON'S TOMB AT MACAO. 



HIS SICKNESS AND DEATH. 131 

had gone to England. On Tuesday he 
was worse ; but a physician was not 
called till Wednesday. Thursday he 
seemed better ; but on Thursday even- 
ing a raging fever set in. 

Other physicians were called. Bleed- 
ing was resorted to, as cupping had 
been before, but it did him harm. All 
day Friday he was sinking, till about ten 
o'clock in the evening, when he expired. 

His family, except his son John, were, 
as I observed before, gone to England. 
He was waiting with great patience to 
hear of their safe arrival ; but the privi- 
lege was not permitted him. Letters 
reached China in a few days, but too 
late for him to see them. 

His body was conveyed to Macao, 
and buried near that of his first wife. 
Two or three individuals of distinction 
— among whom was the Rev. Edwin 



132 ROBERT MORRISON. 

Stevens, seamen's chaplain in the port 
of Canton — accompanied his remains to 
Macao; and Mr. Stevens read at his 
funeral the burial service. 

Dr. Morrison, at the time of his 
death, was fifty-two years and seven 
months old. It is true that in regard 
to the amount of labor he performed, 
his life was a long one. He did more 
in twenty-seven years than most men 
have done in their whole lives ! He 
conquered China, prospectively, — not 
by the sword, but by the Bible. The 
name of Morrison will be remembered 
and honored in all coming time. His 
efforts and example were a fitting intro- 
duction to all the missionary labors 
that have since been and will here- 
after be devoted to the evangelization 
of that vast empire. 

THE END. 



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